Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev

Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev (12 September 1942-13 February 2004) was President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria from 21 April 1996 to 12 February 1997, succeeding Dzokhar Dudayev and preceding Aslan Maskhadov. Yandarbiyev was vice-president under Dudayev, and he served as acting president after his assassination; Yandarbiyev was killed by a car bomb in Qatar in 2004.

Biography
Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev was born on 12 September 1942 in Vydrika, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union to a family of Sunni Muslim Chechens. Yandarbiyev served as a literary scholar and children's author before becoming an independence activist, and in July 1989 he founded the secularist democratic Unity Party to campaign for Chechen independence. He also founded the Vainakh Democratic Party in 1990, and he became the deputy chairman of the All-National Congress of the Chechen People. From 1991 to 1993, he led its media committee, and he served as Vice-President under Dzokhar Dudayev at the time of the First Chechen War. On 21 April 1996, he became acting president of the independent Chechen Republic of Ichkeria when Dudayev was assassinated, and on 27 May 1996 he negotiated a ceasefire with Russian president Boris Yeltsin. In February 1997, top Chechen military leader Aslan Maskhadov defeated him in elections, and he won only 10% of the vote, behind Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev.

In August-September 1999, he was one of the key figures behind the Islamic International Brigade's invasion of Dagestan, and he settled in Qatar that same year as the Second Chechen War ravaged his country. He sought to garner more support for Chechnya among the other Muslim countries, but his involvement in the October 2002 Moscow theater hostage crisis led to Interpol placing him on their most-wanted list. Russia claimed that he financed the al-Qaeda-backed Chechen resistance, and he became the spiritual leader of the Chechens during the independence struggle.

On 13 February 2004, Russia's SVR and GRU tracked him down to Doha, Qatar, and his SUV was bombed while driving in Doha. He died of his wounds in the hospital, and two of his bodyguards were killed, while his son was wounded. Two GRU agents and a Russian embassy staff worker were arrested by the Qatari government for their involvement in his assassination, and the Chechens blamed his death on "Russian terrorism".